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Is anyone familar w/this pending clinical trial. I ran a search but didn't find much information. I honestly have to have this stuff "dumbed down" to understand it.

This is an interesting trial. Not yet started, this phase I/II trial is sponsored by Nordic Life Science Pipeline Inc. and will be testing a combination of three drugs believed to activate the central pattern generator in the spinal cord (buspirone + levodopa + cardidopa). These drugs are likely to have side-effects on blood pressure and heart rate. Thus, this trial will look for these effects, as well as electromyographic activity of the legs. The study will be conducted in Quebec at the McGill University Health Centre (Montreal General Hospital), Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3G 1A4. Hughes Barbeau is one of the contacts. He is one of the leading scientists working on locomotion and central pattern generators in the world.

This is an interesting trial. Not yet started, this phase I/II trial is sponsored by Nordic Life Science Pipeline Inc. and will be testing a combination of three drugs believed to activate the central pattern generator in the spinal cord (buspirone + levodopa + cardidopa). These drugs are likely to have side-effects on blood pressure and heart rate. Thus, this trial will look for these effects, as well as electromyographic activity of the legs. The study will be conducted in Quebec at the McGill University Health Centre (Montreal General Hospital), Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3G 1A4. Hughes Barbeau is one of the contacts. He is one of the leading scientists working on locomotion and central pattern generators in the world.

Hughes was unable to be PI for the CT. The new PI is Mohan Radhakrishna, MD McGill University Health Centre (Montreal General Hospital) Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3G 1A4. The Ph1/Ph2 trial is slated to begin recruiting in August for Quebec chronic SCI only.

Mohan Radhakrishna, M.D., FRCPC, Dip. Sport Med. has been Member of Clinical Advisory Board of Victhom Human Bionics Inc. since March 2006. Dr. Radhakrishna is a specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation and is Assistant Professor at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. He has special interests in focal neuropathies, orthopedic trauma rehabilitation including spine rehabilitation, and spinal cord rehabilitation. He performs electromyography at the Montreal General Hospital laboratory and is a consultant at the McGill University Health Centre Pain Clinic. Current projects include investigating the implementation of a spinal cord injury research program and a multidisciplinary Spine Unit at the McGill University Health Centre.

How could drugs activate spinal CPGs? Is it that the drugs simply allow the CPG to be more easily excited? Or do they expect people to take a drug and suddenly see a locomotor like response in the legs?

How could drugs activate spinal CPGs? Is it that the drugs simply allow the CPG to be more easily excited? Or do they expect people to take a drug and suddenly see a locomotor like response in the legs?

As a first-in-class (Central Pattern Generator or CPG activator) approach, this tritherapy candidate called SPINALON has been identified and is currently under development for its capacity to temporarily induce episodes of involuntary locomotor movements. The primary objective of this Phase I/IIa study is to assess safety and tolerability of a single escalating dose of SPINALON (levodopa + carbidopa + buspirone) in chronic spinal cord-injured patients. As a secondary objective, preliminary evidence of efficacy will also be sought.

As a first-in-class (Central Pattern Generator or CPG activator) approach, this tritherapy candidate called SPINALON has been identified and is currently under development for its capacity to temporarily induce episodes of involuntary locomotor movements. The primary objective of this Phase I/IIa study is to assess safety and tolerability of a single escalating dose of SPINALON (levodopa + carbidopa + buspirone) in chronic spinal cord-injured patients. As a secondary objective, preliminary evidence of efficacy will also be sought.

Very interesting...is there something different about CPG neural circuits that allows them to be "targeted" by medication? I just cant grasp the concept of how a medication makes its way through the body and affects a very specific group of nerves to elicit a very specific reaction (ie locomotor patterns).

Also, I can't help but notice the word "hindlimb" in the second part of your post...I'm assuming the subjects in this study where Spinalon was discovered were animal subjects?

To the best of my knowledge, there's no category to test hand, wrist and arm movements when reviewing the study criteria. Hence, the term hind limb. CPG responses can be elicited both electrically and pharmaceutically.

The term CPG refers to a functional network, which could consist of neurons located in different parts of the CNS. This network generates the rhythm and shapes the pattern of the motor bursts of motor neurons.